Jaguars dominate second half in big football win over Mar Vista [WITH VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS]

VC QB Daniel DeLeon threw for three touchdowns and ran in another to lead the Jags to a win over Mar Vista.

By Dan Kidder

Despite a somewhat shaky first half, the Valley Center varsity football team did what it has historically done—played much better in the second half—to pull out a 40–14 win at Mar Vista on Friday night to open the 2014 regular season.

The Jaguars gave up a pair of big plays—an 80-yard touchdown pass and a fake punt run that gained nearly 40 yards on Mar Vista’s final drive of the first half—that led to a 14–7 deficit at halftime.

But the Valley Center defense responded by shutting the Mariners out in the second half, while senior quarterback Daniel DeLeon led the offense on five touchdown drives to turn the halftime deficit into a blowout of a final score.

“It’s a good start for us,” DeLeon said after the game. “If we run the ball well, we can pass well, so I give all the credit to the offensive line for giving me the time to do what I wanted to do out there. We still need to work on a few things; for me, I think I was too quick to react to the pressure and I ended up throwing the ball out of the endzone a couple times. And when I make a decision to run, I think I need to actually run instead of looking for one more chance to throw. But we’re just focusing on one game at a time, so now it’s on to Brawley.”

DeLeon threw three touchdowns and ran for one more while racking up 285 yards through the air on 16 completions. The receiving trio of Jared Gilster, Josh Lucas and Jake Newman were the main targets of the night, as each one hauled in a touchdown. Newman led the team with 92 receiving yards, while Lucas racked up 80 yards and Gilster had 78.

but a big kickoff return by Gilster on the ensuing kick



set the Jags up for a three-play, 30-yard drive that was capped by DeLeon’s 28-yard touchdown pass to Lucas to tie the score at 7 with 1:39 left in the first quarter.

The Mariners took the lead back at the end of the second quarter, as a punt attempt on fourth down turned into a 33-yard run for a first down that later set up a one-yard touchdown run as the clock expired on the first half.

But the Jaguars quickly recovered in the second half,



scoring on a one-yard quarterback sneak by DeLeon with 9:08 left in the third quarter,



then taking the lead on a 28-yard touchdown pass from DeLeon to Newman on their next drive just four minutes later.





The Jags missed an extra point because of some trouble with the snap, then went for the two-point conversion on the next score, but the pass fell incomplete, so the score was 19–14 with 5:12 remaining in the third quarter.

After the Mariners fumbled on a kickoff return,

 

the Jaguars went on to score with only 18 seconds left in the third period, as Manriquez scored on a three-yard touchdown run to put the Jags up 26–14.

DeLeon then connected with Gilster for a three-yard touchdown pass with 8:04 left in the fourth to put Valley Center up 33–14.



And after a blocked field goal attempt led to a wacky return by the Mariners,



the Jaguars scored on their final drive of the game on a four-yard touchdown run from Dendy to seal the big win.

“That was a great win,” head coach Rob Gilster told the team after the game. “We made some mistakes, but we learned some things. The way we win is on the offensive and defensive line—we’ve got to win those battles, because I don’t care how good our passing game is, if there’s no offensive line, then we’re done. We’ve got to run the ball, protect the quarterback and stop the run on defense. We wanted to be 1–0, so enjoy it for tonight, but come tomorrow, it’s on to Brawley.”

The Jaguars play at Brawley on Friday night at 7 p.m., followed by the home opener on Sept. 12 at VCHS against Sequoia (Redwood City) at 7 p.m.

Video by Dan Kidder